WEBVTT Kind: captions; Language: en

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It was fire that separated
man from the animals.

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Fire that gave him warmth to overcome the cold.

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Light to pierce the darkness.

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And in 1969, it was the controlled
use of fire that enabled man

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to make his first landing on the moon.

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And it was fire that civilized man.

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For fire not only made food more tasteful
and plant life digestible, but far more

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important, smoked and preserved it.

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Now man no longer had to gorge himself
as soon as he made a fresh kill.

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Now he could sustain himself between kills.

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And he could in time be more than a hunter.

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He could become a farmer, an artist, a writer,

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a member of a cultured society.

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Fire elevated man from the animals and
the art of cooking made him civilized.

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Yet for the past 40,000 years of human history,
methods of

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cooking have remained the same.

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But now at last in the age of space,
and in fact as part of the fallout from our

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great technological effort,
there are new ways of preparing foods.

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Freezing to preserve them and cooking
without the application of heat.

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To see how primitive man prepared his food,
we need only travel to the jungles of

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New Guinea where the stone age still survives.

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Here the simplest way of preparing
food is to take a fresh kill

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and dump it in the fire.

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But by far the best method of primitive
cooking is to dig a pit, line it with

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greenery, and fill it with raw
meat and plenty of hot stones.

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This is the same method as in the
New England clam bake, the western

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barbecue, and the Hawaiian lua.

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Finally the raw meat and hot rocks are
sealed with pomfrons and patience, for it

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will be hours before this
banquet will be ready.

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It also took a long time, about 4,000 years,
from the end of the stone age

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to the rise of ancient Rome.

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Yet this Roman baker, whose portrait and
that of his wife is preserved on the

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walls of his Pompeian bakery, though he
had learned to raise his oven above the

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ground and build it of bricks, still baked
very much like stone age man, applying

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a great deal of heat and time to achieve
this loaf of bread, which is now

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2,000 years old.

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Seventeen centuries after the death of
the Roman baker, Thomas Jefferson, in

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writing the Declaration of Independence,
articulated one of man's great political

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ideas, freedom.

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Jefferson was a universal genius,
whose design of the University of Virginia and

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his own house Monticello, reflected his
love of classical design and gracious

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living.
Jefferson was the first American gourmet.

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It was Jefferson who introduced spaghetti
into the American diet, as well as such

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foods as french fries, asparagus, ice

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cream, and vanilla flavor.

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Some of the finest meals
ever served in America were

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prepared in Jefferson's kitchen.

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Yet though Jefferson's political ideas
were a tremendous advance over the ancient

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Romans, his food preparation methods were
virtually the same, involving the same

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huge applications of labor, heat,
and time, with the same inevitable

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shrinkage and drying out of food.

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Even the arrival of the iron horse
and the Industrial Revolution did not

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substantially change methods of food
preparation, as can be seen in this Virginia

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city, Nevada home, built a century ago
and still preserved in its original

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functional state, including its kitchen.

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The 19th century's age of iron and steel
made cooking by brick hearth obsolete.

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Relatively cheap and efficient iron ranges
could be readily installed in the most

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modest pioneer cabin or city dwellers'
apartment.

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Yet without convenience foods, cooking
still involved as much time and heat and

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almost as much effort as in the Stone Age.

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And even the modern of using either gas
or electricity for its heat source,

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despite all its conveniences, such as
electric timer and automatic pilot, as in

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this 20th century demonstration kitchen,
still requires as much heat and time for

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proper cooking as the brick
hearths of ancient Rome.

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Now, at this history-making moment in
which man has first landed on the moon, we

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are entering a new era in space.

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And here, at the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center,
where the lunar explorers will

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spend their 21-day isolation period,
the NASA Lunar Receiving Laboratory contains

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not only the most advanced scientific
facilities and comfortable living

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accommodations, but its kitchen,
with its reliance on modern frozen foods and

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microwave and quartz cooking units,
is in the forefront of a new

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era in food preparation.

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Microwave cooking units, like those in
the NASA Lunar Receiving Laboratory and

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this test kitchen, are indeed revolutionary.

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Keep your eye on the chocolate cupcake.
It rises faster than you can eat it.

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For a main course, how about a delicacy
like lobster tails, ready in less than a

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minute, with no shrinkage or shriveling,
since there is no furnace-like blast of

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heat. This is cooking by microwave,
cooking without heat.

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Yet the kitchen of the NASA Manned
Spacecraft Center's Lunar Receiving

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Laboratory, limited in its space and in
the time its personnel can devote to

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preparing meals, is designed primarily
for the rapid heating of previously

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prepared cuisines, particularly frozen foods.

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The modern miracle of quartz and microwave
ovens are here, coupled with the

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advances made in modern frozen food technology.

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The foods consumed in the NASA Lunar
Receiving Laboratory are the results of

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extensive recipe development and
research during the past two years

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in ultra-modern test kitchens.

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These foods meet or exceed the high
standards of quality and purity set by the

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NASA Manned Spacecraft Center and have
been selected for taste appeal by both

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astronauts and panels of food experts.

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In short, for those like the astronauts
in the Lunar Receiving Laboratory who

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must have quality food prepared at
maximum speed, there is now the perfect

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marriage, as in this demonstration kitchen,
between the freezer and the microwave

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and quartz ovens.

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Such frozen foods as soups, vegetables,
and these as scalloped apples, piping hot

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and ready to serve in a few seconds.

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Delicious entrees, like lobster newberg,
quickly heated to perfection.

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And desserts, frozen solid,
like Swiss chocolate cake, thawed and ready to

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eat in five seconds.

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It is indeed appropriate that the NASA
Lunar Receiving Laboratory is equipped

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with frozen food facilities and
quartz and microwave cooking units.

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Microwave cooking especially is part of
the technological fallout, particularly

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in the field of radar from the past two
decades of research and development,

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which has culminated in
1969's landing on the Moon.

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Developed as the basic power unit for
all these radar tracking stations is an

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electron tube, the magnetron,
and it was discovered that this same magnetron

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could be used as the primary
power unit in microwave ovens.

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The magnetron, in short, is an electron
tube which transmits microwaves, which

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are much like radio and television waves.

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But a TV station transmits microwaves of
a selected frequency in all directions,

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and any TV set tuned to that station's
frequency picks up part of the transmitted

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energy and processes it
into sound and pictures.

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Inside a microwave oven, the magnetron
similarly transmits waves of energy.

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But since microwaves cannot penetrate metal,
they are channeled inside a metal

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pipe down into the oven cavity.

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Since the cavity is also walled by metal,
there's no place for the microwaves to

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go but into the food, whose molecular
structure absorbs and converts the

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energy in the form of heat.

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Yet the nature of food is such
that only the food, like this

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macaronium cheese, becomes hot.

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The metal oven, as well as the glass
or paper containers, which are all non

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-conductors of microwaves, remain cool.

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The new era in food preparation features
quality frozen foods served with

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unprecedented speed and efficiency.

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Some of the astronauts'
favorite dishes include breast of chicken,

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beef pie, short ribs,

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and lobster new bird.

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Not surprisingly, many of them are the
same as those available at the local

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supermarket for cooking
in conventional kitchens.

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We live in an age of unprecedented
technological achievements, scientific

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adventures, whose full benefits to
mankind cannot as yet be fully foreseen.

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Yet man's greatest adventure may be more
than a monumental landing on the moon.

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It may well be the ever-increasing
acquisition of techniques and knowledge,

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technology that can make the quality
of life for all mankind richer

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and more bountiful.